KOLKATA: Pakistan walked in with a swagger, played with a swagger, and won their only warm-up game in the World T20 in clinical fashion at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
Brushing aside their dismal record on the cricket field of late and the turmoil off it in the past few days, Shahid Afridi’s team recorded a 15-run win over Sri Lanka after setting a target of 158. Sri Lanka managed only 142.
The contest was far from being the tight match the margin suggests; at no point in the game did Sri Lanka exert any pressure on Pakistan in what was the only warm-up game for the Greenshirts.
Mohammed Hafeez powered the team to 157 for 5 with an unbeaten 70 off 49 balls, after Afridi won the toss and chose to bat before Imad Wasim wrecked the Lankan defence to claim four scalps in his allotted four overs, giving away only 25 runs.
Afridi, clearly the darling of the relatively small but raucous Eden crowd, failed with both bat and ball; he lasted two deliveries at the crease before holing out to Sachithra Senanayake off Thisara Perera for naught, and gave away 40 runs without taking a wicket in four overs.
The bowler of the day for the Green-shirts was undoubtedly the talented Imad Wasim who bagged four wickets with his intelligent spin. The youngster, one of Pakistan’s major hopes in this tournament, bowled with control and confidence to outfox the Sri Lankans including a dangerous looking Thirimanne who topscored with 45 off 46 balls.
Mohammad Amir took no wickets but was his economical self, conceding only 20 runs in four overs, while Wahab Riaz was expensive and leaked 35 runs in his four overs. 'Viki' though managed to get Senanayake’s wicket off the penultimate delivery of the match.
Mohammed Irfan consumed the dangerous but off-colour Tillakaratne Dilshan on the very first delivery he bowled to him. He ended his quota with two wickets giving away only 18 runs.
The match began at 3 pm local time, but an estimated 15,000-strong crowd braved a hot Monday afternoon. Officials guessed the crowd had swelled to 25000 by the evening.
But if the crowds came hoping to see fireworks from Pakistan, they were treated to a sedate exhibition of tentative batting, with only Hafeez showing some fluency.
The crowd roared at everything. They roared when Afridi won the toss, they roared louder when Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad walked in to bat, but they roared the loudest when Afridi walked down to the dugout from the dressing room, his pads tucked under his arms.
Sharjeel was the first to go, bowled off the last ball of the fifth over by Senanayeka after scoring 23 in 21 balls, his innings boasting two 4s and two sixes, and Pakistan on 39.
Shehzad, who was recalled after being dropped for the Asia Cup, struggled in his comeback match; he hit two fours but was never convincing, and fell eight balls later to an inside edge off Chamara Kapugedera for 18 from 19 deliveries.
Hafeez hit his first six in the 11th over off Milinda Siriwardana; that was the trigger for him to start pressing on the accelerator in the company of Sarfaraz Ahmed (13 from 21).
But it was during the 50-run partnership with Umar Akmal (19 from 32) that he flourished.
